1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for washing floors, and more particularly, to a floor washing apparatus structured to discharge and pick up a wash solution in order to remove oil, grease and other contaminant residues from a floor surface, and wherein the apparatus includes means for recycling contaminated, dirty wash solution during a recycling process to produce non-contaminated, pure wash solution for subsequent use during floor washing operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the normal day to day operations at various industrial and/or commercial facilities, the floor or ground surface usually becomes contaminated with various residues such as oil and grease. For instance, at an automotive repair facility, oil, grease and other contaminants may drip from vehicles and other equipment onto the floor surface below. At the end of the day, there is often a slippery sheen of residue over much of the garage floor surface presenting both a safety and environmental hazard. To prevent slipping and further contamination, garage floor surfaces are, in most instances, washed regularly with a hose or water pressure cleaner to remove the undesirous film of residue. While this is generally effective to improve safety conditions, the run-off from such washing operations results in large volumes of contaminated water which must be directed to an on site separation reservoir to separate some of the oils and other contaminants from the water used to wash the floor surface. Thereafter, the separated contaminants need to be pumped out of the separation reservoir for transport to a remote contaminant disposal facility. This process of separation and removal of contaminants from the wash run-off is both time consuming and costly to the business owner, requiring a private disposal service to regularly clean out the separation reservoir. Further, the process is not entirely effective in removing contaminants from the floor surface or separation reservoir.
Accordingly, there is an urgent need in virtually all industrial/commercial environments, and some households, for an apparatus structured to remove contaminants such as oil and grease from floor surfaces in a highly efficient, cost-effective manner which does not require the use of a contaminant disposal service for transport of contaminants to a remote disposal site.